Family Is What You Make Of It
by astronomylover
Summary: Tony had never really thought about it before, but now he finally understood. You don't have to be blood-related in order to be family. Done for the Gibbs Thing-A-Thon.


"Family Is What You Make Of It"

Tony had never been close to his father. Deep down, he'd always wanted to, but the circumstances that surrounded their relationship would never allow it. He had never been good enough, smart enough, driven enough…no matter how hard Tony tried, it didn't matter. He didn't measure up to what DiNozzo Sr. expected. The two of them not talking for years on end had become common in the DiNozzo family, and nobody expected anything to change.

The thought of never being close to his family used to plague Tony consistently. Any time he'd been sent out on a case with one of the various police departments' he'd worked for, or hung out with his basketball buddies from Ohio State, the constant presence of family would resonate with the young DiNozzo. However, all that changed when he began working for NCIS.

There was something special about the motley crew of people that made up Gibbs's team of NCIS agents. Tony couldn't place what it was, but something about them…Something made the ache in his heart ease. Here, at NCIS, he had brothers and sisters, both younger and older. He had a parental-figure that was always there – maybe not always visible, but always around when things got rough. He had a lover; a mental and intellectual equal who was always there to keep Tony on his toes and give him a reason to keep going when it seemed that all was lost.

A wise man once said, _"Family is what you make of it."_ Tony had come to realize that you didn't need to be related by blood to be classified as family; you just had to be surrounded by those you loved and cared about the most.

* * *

The bullpen had been quiet for quite some time, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts. He had been sitting behind his desk, eyes shut, for once enjoying the fact that he didn't have anywhere to go or anything pressing to attend to. A hand clapped suddenly down on his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts with a jerk (one that almost caused the younger agent to fall out of his chair). Looking up, he found that the owner of the hand was none other than Gibbs.

"You've been sitting there for quite a while, and you haven't said a word. I was starting to think that something was wrong," Gibbs said quietly, his eyes twinkling mischeviously.

"Nah," Tony replied, shaking his head slightly. "Just thinking."

"_There's_ a news flash," McGee piped up as he walked by Tony's desk, grinning.

"Shut it, Probie," Tony replied, grinning.

Gibbs cocked his head to the side slightly, eyebrows raised.

"Something's got you in an exceptionally good mood," he mused.

"You're imagining things, Boss."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows again, but said nothing. After a few moments of comfortable silence, he spoke again.

"Let's go home, Tony."

This time, it was Tony who raised his eyebrows. It was still early in the day; it was a rare thing that they got to go home before dark. However, Tony had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"You got it, Boss," he replied, grinning.

Gibbs walked off to gather his things, leaving Tony to grab whatever he needed for the night. As he packed up, he looked around the bullpen. Abby and McGee were talking over at McGee's own desk (_'Still trying to impress her,'_ Tony thought.), while Ducky, Palmer, and Ziva were over by the big screen, most likely (in Tony's opinion) talking about some random factoid that popped up in Ducky's brain while completing his latest autopsy. As Gibbs re-crossed the bullpen, stopping at Tony's desk, Tony smiled. _This_ was his family. They may be small, random, and at some points, completely and utterly annoying, but deep down, Tony knew that he wouldn't change them for the world.

Looking up at Gibbs as he stood up, Tony spoke.

"Let's go home."

* * *

This was written for the Gibbs Thing-A-Thon on LJ. The prompt used was "family is what you make of it." Hope you enjoyed!


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